Tag Archives: Cats

Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors

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Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors. Detailed description below.

A caricature of the new Lord Mayor of London: Harvey Combe stands centerd in the a hall, surrounded by a desperate looking group of people both rich and poor, who kneel and beg. A skeletal man (buthcher?) holds a knife in one hand and a scroll in the other enscribed with a large order for meat: “12 haundres vension, 6 necks do., 8 turtles, 20 brace partridges, 20 pheasants, 20 brace woodcocks, 16 sirloins beef bacon(?) &””. In the foreground lies another sheet which readss “Tripe Soup. Liver & Crow. Fried Tripe. Bill of Fare for 8 Novr.” The outgoing Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Glyn, who was notoriously spendthrift during his period in office, is seen being kicked out of the Mansion House holding large money bag with the word “Saving” written on it. The two cats on the left and the dog following the butcher are also thin from malnorishment. Two large spiders have spun large webs below the archway on the left below a two cupids holding a heart molded above the archway.

  • Artist: Nixon, John, -1818, artist.
  • Title: Hospitality kicking avarice out of doors, or, New tenants at a mansion house [art original] / J.N. 1799.
  • Production: [England], [1799]

Catalog Record

Drawings N736 no. 8 Box D305

Acquired November 2018

The man of the woods & the cat-o’-mountain

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A kitchen scene [with a satire based on the fable of the “catspaw”]. A monkey with Wood’s head squats beside a plump cat with the head in profile of Queen Caroline. She sits gazing at the fire with an eagerly expectant smile. He puts his left hand on her shoulder and takes her right paw which is supported on his knee, looking fixedly at her with greedy expectation. Between the bars of the grate are four chestnuts like large potatoes. These are inscribed respectively: ‘Privileges’, ‘Rights’, ‘Liturgy’, ‘St Catherines’. Beside the grate and attached to a chain is a ‘Kettle of Fish’. Behind the cat is a big trap with steel teeth inscribed ’50 000 per Annum’. Behind it is a dresser, neatly arranged above a cupboard inscribed ‘Lately from St Omers’ [see British Museum Satires no. 13730]. On the dresser are a teapot and butterdish, each with a bust portrait of Bergami, and two cups, inscribed ‘BB’. There are also pans inscribed ‘Hash’ and ‘Stew’, a ‘Tinder’ box and bottle of ‘Brim-Stone’. On the chimneypiece, with other utensils, is a box of ‘Matches’.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: The man of the woods & the cat-o’-mountain [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., March 27, 1821.

Catalog Record

821.03.27.01

Acquired March 2017

A patent extinguisher, being a safe & easy mode of putting out a candle

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Aquatintlwlpr34666-776x1024

Drawing

An old woman dressed in her nightcap and gown, her one breast hanging exposed from her gown, climbs into bed in which her husband already lies. She expels gas from her bottom in the direction of the candle on the ground in front of the fireplace with such force that it lifts the cat off the ground and bends the candle. Above the fireplace is a broadside entitled: The storm by Mr. Dodd, cease rude boreas balstering railes … On the table below the window (left) is a bowl labeled “Pease porridge” and a wig on a stand. On the ground at her feet lies a corset, shoes and other garments. Above the bed are boxed and breeches; a man’s coat is hung on the back of the chair to the right of the hearth.

  • Creator: Nixon, John, -1818, artist.
  • Title:A patent extinguisher, being a safe & easy mode of putting out a candle.
  • Production:[London, ca. July 1801]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection (Aquatint)

Catalog Record & Digital Collection (Drawing)

801.07.00.05+ & Drawings N736 no. 7

Acquired July 2016

Poor Mr. Bull in a pretty situation

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lwlpr34234 (725x1024)

“John Bull, a fat “cit”, is beset by descending water covered with the word ‘Tax’, many times repeated, in which dogs, cats, and pitchforks fall with violence. His eyes and spectacles are transfixed by a pitchfork inscribed ‘Window Tax’; the shaft of another inscribed ‘Malt & Hops Tax’ sticks in his bleeding mouth, dislodging teeth. His paunch is pierced with a third fork; the handle, inscribed ‘Tax …’ [&c. &c], supports an angry cat, spitting ‘Tax …’ Another falling cat knocks off his wig, which emits a cloud of powder inscribed ‘Powder Tax’. His gouty feet, in slashed shoes, are stabbed by three pitchforks: ‘Corn Laws’ [the biggest, cf. British Museum Satires No. 15510]; ‘Leather Tax’; ‘Land Tax’. A ‘Dog Tax’ strikes down J. B.’s dog, its collar inscribed ‘Poor Tray’. Another dog worries a cat (left). J. B. holds up a derelict umbrella, inscribed ‘Trade’, pierced by many prongs and useless.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
  • Title: Poor Mr. Bull in a pretty situation [graphic] : for the rain it raineth every day / W. Heath.
  • Publication: [London : Pub. March 20, 1830, by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket, London, 20 March 1830]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

830.03.20.02+

Acquired May 2016

Six old women discussing their cats

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 Two rows of women quarter-length and in profile, some cradling cats in their arms, with captions inscribed in ink near each figure: This is my Queensbury the finest Tom Cat in England; I’m going to see Arabella’s catery she had two charming sitters yesterday morning; God bless me these Irish captains are terrible men; Eighteen delightful little creatures I’m told what a sweet …

  • Creator: Woodward, G. M. (George Moutard), approximately 1760-1809, artist.
  • Title: [Six old women discussing their cats] [drawing].
  • Created: [England, ca. 1792]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

Drawings W87 no. 34 Box D210

Acquired before 2002

The fox at the cupboard

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A view of the interior of a cottage with an old woman asleep in a chair, her feet resting on a low footstool in front of open door (left); in her lap she holds an open book and a pair of spectacles. On the right, a boy in a smock stands on a stool in front of an open cupboard eating from a full bowl. Along the back wall is a pair of casement windows with a drop leaf table below and pictures on the wall to the left. A cat walks across the center of the scene looking up at the boy.

  • Creator: Grant, C. J. (Charles Jameson), active 1830-1852, artist.
  • Title: The fox at the cupboard [drawing].
  • Created: [England, between 1830 and 1852?]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

Drawings G761 no. 5 Box123

Acquired November 2013

A Catalanian pic nic society at private rehearsal

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Six members of the society sit in a row, each singing a different song. All are ugly and elderly except one lady who turns to her neighbour singing, “In sweetest harmony we live.” The latter, almost bald, sits on the extreme left, singing, “Time has not thinn’d my flowing hair.” A fat, ugly lady bawls towards her left hand neighbour: “Encompass’d in [an] angels frame.” He sings to her: “Together let us ran[ge] the fields.” A man with closed eyes from which tears fall, sings: “Said a smile to a tear what cause have you hear.” A gouty, old naval officer on the extreme right sings: “Oh exquisite harmony!! Music has charms to soften rocks and bend the knotted oak.” A dishevelled footman with a bottle in his coat-pocket walks from the right, tilting his salver of glasses so that they fall on a squalling cat. He sings tipsily: “From night till morn I take my glass I hopes to forget my Chloe!!” A dog on the left howls.

  • Printmaker: Cruikshank, Isaac, 1756?-1811?, printmaker.
  • Title: A Catalanian pic nic society at private rehearsal [graphic] / Woodward del. ; Cruikshank sp.
  • Published: [London] : Pubd. by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside, March 12, 1807.

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

807.03.14.02+

Acquire April 2013

A French family

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Two couples — one middle age and the other youthful — dance in a shabby room.

  • Printmaker: Alken, Samuel, 1756-1815, printmaker.
  • Title: A French family [graphic] / T. Rowlandson delin. ; S. Alken fecit.

Catalog record & Digital collection

792.11.05.04++

Acquired November 2012

English barracks

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A view of the interior of a busy English barracks shows a more domestic than military atmosphere although weapons and other gear adorn the walls and lay scattered on the floor. The scene includes a woman nursing a baby (left); beside her, one soldier brushes his britches while another adjusts his helmet.

Companion print: French barracks

  • Artist: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827
  • Title: English barracks [graphic] / drawn & etch’d by T. Rowlandson ; aquatinta by T. Malton.
  • Published: [London] : Pub. Aug. 12, 1791, by S.W. Fores, N. 3 Piccadilly, [12 August 1791]

Catalog record & Digital collection

791.08.12.02++

Acquired November 2012

French barracks

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A view of the interior of a busy French barracks shows a more domestic than military atmosphere although weapons and other gear adorn the walls and lay scattered on the floor. The scene includes a woman nursing a baby, children playing, woman doing washing.

Based on a watercolor by Rowlandson, in The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University. (Drawings R79 no.13 Box D200)

  • Artist: Rowlandson, Thomas  1756-1827
  • Title: French barracks [graphic] / drawn & etchd by T. Rowlandson ; aquatinta by T. Malton.
  • Published: [London] : Publish’d Aug. 12, 1791, by S.W. Fores, N. 3 Piccadilly, [12 August 1791]

Catalog record & Digital collection

791.08.12.01++

Acquired November 2012